UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT

UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT
Figure 2.9: Firms’ linkages with universities and related institutions
Share of innovation-active manufacturing firms (%)
45
33.80
Co-operation partners, high-income countries
Highly important sources of information, high-income countries
30
15
0
Finland
Belgium
19.55
19.16
16.59
7.8
4.5 5.2
4.3
Luxembourg
Czech Rep.
15.71
15.70
2.5
5.1
Japan
Slovakia
14.36
14.33
13.87
3.7
Israel
7.2 2.7
Norway
Croatia
13.23
13.06
2.9
3.4
France
Lithuania
12.62
10.00
9.90
9.10
7.66
7.45
5.8
3.9 4.2
1.9 6.0
Poland
Korea, Rep. of
Estonia
Russian Fed.
Cyprus
3.2
Portugal
7.26
5.0
10.2
7.20
Spain
New Zealand
7.00
4.0
Malta
5.90
529
1.40
3.4 3.7
Latvia
Italy
1.2
Australia
TRENDS IN SCIENTIFIC MOBILITY
The diaspora can boost innovation at home and abroad
Although new technologies like the internet have opened up
possibilities for virtual mobility, physical movement remains
crucial to cross-fertilize ideas and spread scientific discoveries
across time and space. The following discussion will be
examining recent trends in international scientific mobility,
defined as the cross-border physical movement of people who
participate in research training or research work. For the purpose
of this analysis, we shall draw on the international learning
mobility and career of doctorate-holders studies undertaken
jointly by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, OECD and Eurostat.
There is a wealth of evidence to support the claim that diaspora
knowledge networks can transform the local and international
environment for innovation. As far back as the 1960s and
1970s, the Korean and Taiwanese diaspora were persuaded
to leave California’s Silicon Valley to establish science parks
in their homeland (Agunias and Newland, 2012). Another
example is the Colombian network of scientists and engineers
abroad, which was set up in 1991 to reconnect expatriates with
their home country (Meyer and Wattiaux, 2006).
in 1992. In the 1990s, many Indians working in the USA’s
IT industry began collaborating with their counterparts in
India and outsourcing their work. A 2012 survey shows that
12 of the top 20 IT firms in India have expatriate Indians as
founders, co-founders, chief executive officers or managing
directors (Pande, 2014). In 2009, the Indian government
launched the Global Indian Network of Knowledge to
facilitate knowledge exchange between the diaspora and
India in business, IT and education (Pande, 2014).
Between 2006 and 2015, the Dutch government implemented
the Temporary Return of Qualified Nationals projects to help
a number of post-conflict countries build their technological
capacity and transfer knowledge. The voluntary return
of highly qualified overseas nationals to Afghanistan for
a maximum of six months to help rebuild their country
has already brought about technological change and
innovation in education, engineering and health (Siegel and
Kuschminder, 2012). Elsewhere, temporary returnees have
introduced new technology, revised university curricula and
trained local instructors, among other things. One factor
contributing to the project’s success is the participants’
substantial knowledge of the local language and culture.
A more recent case study concerns the Indian diaspora’s
role in India’s information technology (IT) industry, which
contributed as much as 7.5% to India’s GDP in 2012. Perhaps
the most famous Indian expatriate in the IT industry is Satya
Nadella, an engineer who was appointed chief executive
officer of Microsoft in 2014 after joining the multinational
Scientific mobility nurtures international research
collaboration
When Woolley et al. (2008) surveyed scientists in six Asia–Pacific
countries, they found that those who had obtained research
degrees and trained overseas were also active participants in
international research collaboration. Jöns (2009) discovered
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